So Ai and I are writing at least 100 words a week. Penalty for failing? $1.00 to the other! So here’s my weekly contribution. 295 words. Only took me like three hours. ;) The zombie muse – she is fickle!

“Hey Lilly, d’you ever hear of a gin blossom?”

Adam took a long drag from his cigarette, swirled it around in his mouth, and exhaled it into the glass of gin in his hand. The delicate arcs of smoke seethed languorously past the rim and disappeared into the air. Past the faint haze of smoke and tears, she could see his eyes were still wild, his hands still shaking.

Lilly gave him a weak smile she didn’t feel. “I thought they were a band.”

“I bet you liked them, too,” Adam chuckled. “They seem your type. It’s, you know – pussy rock.”

“You’re an ass.”

He laughed, maybe a little too loudly. He was careful, Lilly noticed, to keep his eyes turned to the left.

Because to Adam’s right was where Jack was. Jack, who’d had a wife and baby daughters, who’d been so tired and asked them to stop running for a moment. Who’d sat down on the floor to the right of Adam two hours ago, and hadn’t moved since. Not for a word. Not for a single breath.

Adam nudged her with the bottle.

She waved him away, instead reaching for the gun on the counter, sliding it through her belt and raising herself from the seat.

“We have to go, Adam.”

Adam blew out another slow smoke ring into his drink, and threw back the rest of the drink.

Then, he turned and, staring straight at Jack, gently reached into the man’s pocket and removed his wallet. Lilly, aghast, opened her mouth. Adam looked up towards her, and then held up the picture of Jack and his family.

“If we run into them,” he said quietly. “Just in case.”

He stood, touched Lilly’s arm and said, “Let’s get out of here.”